Employment Relations Bill
9:30 am
Mr Gerry Sutcliffe (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Employment Relations, Competition and Consumers), Department of Trade and Industry; Bradford South, Labour)
I beg to move,
That—
(1) during proceedings on the Employment Relations Bill (in addition to its first meeting at half-past Nine o'clock on Tuesday 3rd February 2004) the Standing Committee do meet—
(a) at half-past Two o'clock on Tuesday 3rd February 2004;
(b) at half-past Nine o'clock and half-past Two o'clock on each of the following days, namely, Thursday 5th February 2004, Tuesday 10th February 2004, Tuesday 24th February 2004 and Thursday 26th February 2004.
(2) the proceedings to be taken on the sittings shall be as shown in the second column of the Table below and shall be taken in the order so shown;
(3) the proceedings which under paragraph (2) are to be taken on any sitting shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at the time indicated in the Table;
(4) paragraph (2) does not prevent proceedings being taken (in the order shown in the second column of the Table) at any earlier sitting than that provided for under paragraph (2) if previous proceedings have already been concluded.
Sitting Proceedings Time for conclusions of proceedings 1st Clause 1, Clause 4, Clauses 2 and 3, Clauses 5 to 30 — 2nd Clause 1, Clause 4, Clauses 2 and 3, Clauses 5 to 30 — 3rd Clause 1, Clause 4, Clauses 2 and 3, Clauses 5 to 30 — 4th Clause 1, Clause 4, Clauses 2 and 3, Clauses 5 to 30 — 5th Clause 1, Clause 4, Clauses 2 and 3, Clauses 5 to 30 — 6th Clause 1, Clause 4, Clauses 2 and 3, Clauses 5 to 30 5.30 pm 7th Clauses 31 to 42 — 9th New Clauses, New Schedules, Clauses 43 to 45, Schedules 1 and 2, remaining proceedings on the Bill — 10th New Clauses, New Schedules, Clauses 43 to 45, Schedules 1 and 2, remaining proceedings on the Bill 5.30 pm
Good morning, Mr. Stevenson. I welcome you to the Chair and look forward to working with you and with Mr. Forth, who will replace you in due course. This is an important Bill and we look forward to the detailed discussions that we will have.
I am delighted to see the hon. Member for North-West Norfolk (Mr. Bellingham) in his place. Skill, charm and wit are among his attributes and, although I am sure that he will get it wrong in terms of substance, the Programming Sub-Committee has tried to provide ample time to ensure that the Bill is well
scrutinised. I welcome the hon. Gentleman to his place, as I do other Opposition Members, including the hon. Member for Gordon (Malcolm Bruce). On my own side, I am delighted to have my former colleague in the Whips Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Staffordshire, Moorlands (Charlotte Atkins), alongside me to keep the expert array of talent on the Government Benches in order as we go through the Bill.
I believe that there is ample opportunity to discuss a range of issues. I want to raise the issue of the union modernisation fund, which has hit the press since Second Reading. I assure the Committee that it will have the opportunity, despite what the press reports may say, to discuss the issue in full at the appropriate time. The Government are currently considering the proposals, but they will come before the Committee and I am sure that it will have wise words to say about the fund. We will give the Committee that opportunity.